Gas Prices Soaring

(Cordova, TN) Gas prices are setting records as they skyrocket more than fifty cents in a month.

In the past few weeks Patricia Kight is noticing she pays about $10 more every week when she fills up.

She has three cars so she’s paid $120 extra dollars this month for the same amount of gas, “It’s putting a strain on everybody with traveling and everything we usually go out of town once a month to go back to Mississippi. So it kind of puts a strain on us.”

Kight isn’t the only one feeling the pinch.

AAA says the national average is $3.77.

Here in Memphis it’s slightly below the national average, but just a month ago the average was almost fifty cents less.

We usually see a rise in gas prices this time of year anyway because stations switch from the winter mix to the summer mix which costs more money, but we’ve never seen a spike in prices this high this fast.

Cheryl Keating says AAA expects prices to level off around $4 a gallon by April, but it’s hard to know for sure.

“The economy is looking good and believe it or not that causes prices to go up and we had the storm in the northeast and that caused a lot of demand up there so that caused the prices to go up,” said Keating.

The Energy Information Administration says the high prices are also a reflection of high taxes.

They say states like Louisiana and Texas slashed production in December to avoid being taxed on their inventory at the end of the year.

AAA says when prices get to high people start to make changes by not driving as much or consolidating trips.

Kight says her family has had to make changes, “We kind of don’t go out to eat as much having to fill up three cars it kind of puts a strain on the budget there.”

There are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of money you spend on gas like making sure your tires are properly inflated, remove excess eight, and drive the speed limit.